


That's the Way I Loved You

by thelaziesthufflepuff



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Animal Transformation, Emotional Constipation, M/M, cat as therapy, no cats were harmed in the making of this fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-26
Updated: 2019-07-26
Packaged: 2020-07-20 07:10:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,852
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19988173
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thelaziesthufflepuff/pseuds/thelaziesthufflepuff
Summary: Wonwoo gets to live with Soonyoung, which is fantastic but for one tiny detail: he's a cat.





	That's the Way I Loved You

**Author's Note:**

> To everyone who helped me with this fic esp @dollyeo and @sysupportgroup thank you so much!
> 
> Also do give @meoshishi (on Twitter) some love for the fantastic movie poster graphic she created!

“Where did I put my T-money card and handphone…” Soonyoung idly mutters to himself as he ransacks his own room, bending over to search through piles of discarded clothing. Wonwoo wrinkles his nose at the smell of old clothing even as he stares appreciatively at Soonyoung’s firm ass. “Wonwoo did you see it - nevermind I found it!” The card was, of course, on the table, helpfully shoved behind Soonyoung’s Shinee photocards. Wonwoo would know, he left it there by accident when he was trying to push the photocards off the table, but Soonyoung caught him doing it and chased him off. 

“Bye Wonwoo, be good! Don’t break anything again!” Soonyoung says as he puts on his shoes and locks the door, leaving Wonwoo alone in the house without even scratching behind his ears. Wonwoo sniffs at the slight and vows to remove the shoelaces from Soonyoung’s sport shoes. It wasn’t his fault that Soonyoung bought so many breakable objects and left them in Wonwoo’s easy reach. There’s only so many hours he can sleep, so much dried food he can eat, so many times he could raid the dustbin for new things to play with even though he’s  _ definitely not allowed to do so _ . Not to mention he can’t even play his video games anymore (not that Soonyoung had any left, he isn’t good at games and once Wonwoo moved out there wasn’t any need for them) because he’s not who he used to be.

Wonwoo used to have hands. With actual fingers that could move independently of one another. Slim fingers that were a necessity in opening cans and playing Overwatch. Now he’s stuck with paws that can’t even accurately press the A button of his old Nintendo 3DS. Fluffy paws with clean paw pads that he would have found adorable on all the stray cats he used to feed after school, but have somehow found their way to him. If his past self saw him now, he would have promptly dropped out of school and played as many rounds of Overwatch he could before succumbing to a blessed life of kitty kibble and naps. 

But Wonwoo doesn’t have that hindsight. He only has hind legs, because Wonwoo is now, out of all things, a fucking cat. 

\- 

Wonwoo didn’t start his life as a cat. He was a perfectly human person who just happened to have a tiny crush on his best friend, a crush that steadily grew bigger as the years went by, and nothing would have changed if not for the fact that they started living together and realised that years of friendship and possible love could not (would not) survive Wonwoo’s gaming hours, Soonyoung’s lack of expertise with more complicated than a Word document, the sheer inability of two young bachelors to feed and clean up after themselves.

So Wonwoo moved out, and Soonyoung bitterly bid him good riddance, claiming that he was the worst flatmate and worst best friend ever, and Wonwoo, not willing to be outdone, left a few parting comments about how Soonyoung’s future partners better came with limitless patience and an ability to deal with capricious emotional outbursts and hypocritical perfectionist attitude, comments that were deliberately meant to dig their claws into Soonyoung’s insecurities and rip apart skin, drawing blood.

It’s no surprise that Soonyoung never messaged him again. Even if it was to tell Wonwoo he was a complete asshole who no one will love. 

Well, too late for regrets now. Wonwoo digs his own claws into rope, determined to shred the cheap scratching post Soonyoung got from Mingyu that smells vaguely like The8, Mingyu’s cat. Somehow, despite all of Mingyu’s efforts to feed him with homecooked food fit for a king, The8 (and Wonwoo maintains that it was still a stupid name for a cat) continued to remain toned and lean, less pampered housecat and more apex predator who would have extended its territory to include every garbage dump in Seoul. 

Wonwoo remains regretful, but he is also a fucking cat. He can’t speak the words to apologize; all he can do is rub against Soonyoung’s legs and cling to him in a bid to telegraph his apology and affection, and hope that Soonyoung reciprocates. And he would have blamed Junhui for it, but after the first few months he realised that Junhui was as much a victim of circumstance back then as he was, and he would not have adjusted as well without his help. 

Soonyoung, thankfully, seems to like Wonwoo more as a cat, always making time to scratch his ears and letting Wonwoo sleep on his bed, so that eases the knot in Wonwoo’s heart, making it just a little easier to breathe. Even when Wonwoo does things like knock over his acrylic standees or scratch his pillow, Soonyoung never throws him out, which already makes cat-Wonwoo a better choice for Soonyoung than human-Wonwoo ever was. 

But that doesn’t explain how he got to this point, and frankly Wonwoo himself wasn’t all that clear about the details. He remembers wandering around at night, watching the play of lights on the puddles left by the earlier rain, cursing himself for not leaving without an umbrella, without a goodbye. He wore his anger and hurt and self-righteousness like a cloak that steadily got heavier the more he stewed, rewinding the incident in his mind, picking his behaviour apart and finding truth in Soonyoung’s words. Eventually he got tired and found himself sitting at a park bench, idly trying to look for stars through Seoul’s light pollution, sitting beside a cat that clearly had better days. 

“Ever felt like you made a terrible mistake but don’t know how to solve it?” Wonwoo murmurs to the cat. The cat gives Wonwoo a baleful look for interrupting its supposed alone time, so Wonwoo makes the effort to look as unthreatening and cat-friendly as possible. His hand reaches out and gently scratches underneath its chin. The cat tolerates it for a while before deciding to lick its own ass. Wonwoo laughs quietly and starts talking about Soonyoung, the way he loved how fluffy his cheeks were, and how cute his eyes were when they smiled, how brilliant he was on the dance floor, and how Wonwoo fucked everything up with his pride and inability to take criticism. The cat had decided to lie down, probably tired of listening to Wonwoo talk. 

“Well, at least you don’t have to deal with this. You have to deal with people not feeding you instead,” Wonwoo sighs. “I wish I was a cat. I wouldn’t have to deal with humans and love and my own stupidity.”

The cat turns to look at him with a pitying gaze. Wonwoo feels like he’s been reprimanded. 

“What?” Wonwoo asks defensively. The situation is starting to get ridiculous, he’s sitting alone on a park bench late at night and his only companion is a cat that seems to love licking its own ass. But at least that cat seems to understand whatever he’s saying and pities him for how he has fucked up his own love life. 

“We should swap places - you’ll understand what I mean,” Wonwoo says seriously, staring at the cat’s intelligent eyes. “And it would be great to be a cat. You’d never have to worry about love ever again.”

Famous last words. All it took was a blink of the cat’s sea-green eyes and a swish of its tail, and all of a sudden, Wonwoo was looking up, up, up at a human who was sitting where the cat used to be. He blinked and suddenly realised he didn’t need his glasses anymore, he could see everything clearly even in the dark of night, and when he tried to stand up he realised he had two additional limbs and an extra tail that he could not control, it swished rapidly back and forth as panic crawled out from Wonwoo’s throat, causing him to thrash around and fall from the park bench. He landed on his side and would have screamed, but the voice that emerged was not the usual baritone that Soonyoung found hot, instead it was a sharp yowl Wonwoo usually heard during mating seasons. 

“Thanks, I can’t believe you really said it,” the other man said in a hoarse voice. His Korean was tinged with an accent - was he from Jeju? He then shrugged his shoulders and marvelled at his human fingers, perfectly comfortable with his newfound nudity. Meanwhile, Wonwoo was torn between shooting disbelieving looks at him and staring aghast at his own reflection in the puddle. 

“I’ve been stuck as a cat for months and finally someone broke the curse!”

“What curse?” Wonwoo demands hysterically, but it only comes out as a petulant meow. He continues to stare at his reflection, maybe he accidentally stumbled into a soju tent and drank too much - there was no fucking way he would have turned into a cat.

“Yeah, you’re a cat now - the curse has now passed on to you.” The man was entirely too happy about that. Wonwoo gives him a warning look - he has claws now and he’s not entirely opposed to sinking them into the man’s exposed calf. He’s even willing to sink them into that stranger’s dick if it meant getting him a proper explanation (and some part of him just wants to laugh in despair - he hasn’t even  _ seen  _ Soonyoung’s dick yet and now some random stranger is flashing him and he’s never going to be able to touch his dick  _ ever again  _ because he doesn’t even have the necessary hands to give him a handjob because he’s a fucking cat.)

“Hey don’t glare at me - I didn’t do this,” the man explains haltingly. “The woman who got cursed before me said that you’d have to figure out your heart’s desire or something before it’s too late. Or just get someone dumb enough to take your place. I guess that’s you.” 

He scratches the back of Wonwoo’s neck, and Wonwoo curses himself for enjoying it. He truly is becoming more like a cat with every passing minute, and that thought scares him. What did he mean by too late?

“Well it’s time for me to go. Can I wear your clothes?” The man asks, and Wonwoo is ready to yowl a resounding no, but he’s already putting on Wonwoo’s shirt. It stretches across his broader shoulders and strains at his chest. Wonwoo hates him already. “I don’t want to be arrested for public indecency.” 

“I’ll mail your ID back to your address.” The man continues. “I’ll take the money and your phone though - you’re a cat, you don’t need them anymore.” 

Wonwoo gives an indignant meow at that. His phone was precious - not only was he level 89 on Love Live, the phone also contained all the derp photos he managed to take of Soonyoung. His heart twinged painfully; would he ever be able to see Soonyoung again? For that matter, what would his family think? They’d think he just went missing and they would call the police and no one would be able to find him and he’ll be as good as dead. He desperately cries out and gets picked up for his efforts.

“Guess you could tell your family you’re now a cat?” If he were human, Wonwoo would have rolled his eyes. “You could type it out on your laptop! I got my friend to understand using his picture cards instead.” 

Wonwoo meows mournfully as he finds himself carried out of the park, a sharp contrast to that man’s cheerful attitude. He introduced himself as Junhui and somehow managed to understand Wonwoo’s address from his garbled meowing. Or maybe he just dug through Wonwoo’s phone after unlocking it. After all, he was watching Wonwoo use his phone even as a cat.

Wonwoo would have rather never met Junhui, but things were indeed easier with him around. He managed to convince Wonwoo’s parents that yes, their beloved oldest son had gotten himself tangled with a shaman’s long-running curse, and no, Junhui wasn’t a scammer from China out for their pensions, and no, no exorcist was going to help in making Wonwoo human again. Wonwoo had to unlock his old computer by typing on the keyboard with one extended claw, point out his father’s birth date and dig out his old hard drive of porn before they believed him.

Bohyuk had been worried, then amused. He even got Wonwoo a collar and told him to make the Jeon family proud. Wonwoo took great joy in shredding his pants. 

“So now you have to figure out your heart’s desire?” His mother asks. 

“Or fix something you regret,” his father hums thoughtfully. 

“You must have fucked up with Soonyoung hyung. I’m not surprised.” Bohyuk nods sagely. Wonwoo purposely pushes his phone off the table, causing Bohyuk smack him on the bum. Wonwoo retaliates by biting his ankles, drawing blood. Bohyuk shrieks and tries to get a broom while Wonwoo puffs himself up to three times his size, pouncing on his fingers. 

Junhui stands in the corner and stares at the resulting carnage, hesitantly asking, “Is everything alright?” 

“Somehow nothing changes, even when one of my sons is a cat,” Wonwoo’s mom dryly replies. “Bohyuk stop fighting your brother and go on Naver. I’m sure there should be someone who has posted on this issue.” 

“We better buy more tuna,” his father muses. “He may be stuck as a cat for a while.” 

-

A while is an understatement. Summer turns into autumn which bleeds into winter, finally turning into spring. Wonwoo is no less closer to breaking the curse than he is to learning to write with his paws.

(“Soonyoung, is your cat trying to write? With a pen?” Jihoon, one of Soonyoung’s friends, asked incredulously when he came over. Clearly he was a lot smarter than Wonwoo’s actual owner, who looked at Wonwoo and just laughed like Wonwoo wasn’t trying his best to communicate.

“Nah, that’s just Wonwoo chewing on my stuff again.” Soonyoung grabbed the pen out of Wonwoo’s paws, the top of the pen hitting Wonwoo’s teeth. Wonwoo had let out an angry meow, and Soonyoung scratched the back of his neck in apology, but still refused to hand the pen back to him. “Don’t be angry - I’m trying to save you from ink poisoning! This is bad for you!”) 

Nothing would have changed, and Wonwoo could have been contented with such a languid existence, with no priorities in his life other than eating, shitting and sleeping on Soonyoung’s face, with occasional enactments of petty revenge by leaving dead insects in places where Soonyoung was sure to stumble on them and scream.

Nothing should have changed, but Soonyoung, even when he’s busy trying to make a living to support Wonwoo and himself, gets  _ a boyfriend. _

-

Wonwoo thinks nothing about it for the first week - Soonyoung, of course, doesn’t change his bad habit of falling in love with random people when they treat him a bit nicer than a polite stranger. (An ugly voice in his brain murmurs that  _ that’s how _ Soonyoung fell in love with Wonwoo too, just because Wonwoo was in the right place, at the right time, and lucky enough to have a face of an idol. Soonyoung always had depressingly low standards for real life romance despite claiming that he wanted someone like Shinee’s Taemin.) 

So someone reciprocated Soonyoung’s clumsy attempts at romance, Wonwoo mused with only the slightest tinge of bitterness, as faint as the smell of barbeque pork that clung around Soonyoung’s clothes as he went out more often in the evenings, which was not faint at all. But Wonwoo couldn’t care less; there Soonyoung was, moving on with his love life while Wonwoo remained as a cat, with no way to break the curse and no samgyeopsal for dinner either. He got to see Soonyoung naked by sneaking into the shower, but if Soonyoung’s love life improved too much, he may have to see Soonyoung naked with another person, and that’s not something Wonwoo could have endured in any form. 

And Wonwoo knew those attempts at romance were clumsy, because he caught Soonyoung drafting out text messages he wanted to send on his laptop. He took great joy in messing them up by purposely walking on the keyboard and then sitting on it until Soonyoung gave up on chasing him away. (Soonyoung was also clumsy when it came to wooing him, giving him boxes of half-eaten fried chicken, trying to impress him with video game trivia, not knowing that Wonwoo was already his without even lifting a finger, Wonwoo had been his the moment he realised he could not say no to the easy affection and acceptance that seemingly shone out of Soonyoung’s tiny eyes when Wonwoo lent him his colour pencils in back in elementary school. 

Wonwoo remembers, some time in high school, Soonyoung had asked Wonwoo to teach him how to play Counterstrike. Wonwoo, not knowing that it was Soonyoung’s attempt at wooing had obliged, looming over Soonyoung as he rested his hand on the mouse, over Soonyoung’s own sweaty hand. He ended up focusing more on the game and Soonyoung’s lacklustre scores, even with Soonyoung’s hand under his own, their bodies pressed closely together. Looking back, that incident clearly indicated that Wonwoo’s priorities were more skewed towards achieving high scores than on Soonyoung next to him. No wonder they hadn’t worked out. Things were so obvious in hindsight.) 

So Soonyoung gets himself a mysterious boyfriend named Joshua (apparently from the United States), and while Wonwoo would  _ love _ to think that Soonyoung just made him up or that he was getting catfished online, he sadly gets to meet Joshua in person when Soonyoung brings him home. Wonwoo was greeted by an exceedingly handsome and gentle-looking face, and he hated him already. Unfortunately the feeling was not mutual, for Joshua loved cats.

“Your cat’s really cute, Soonyoung.” Joshua crouches down and extends a hand for Wonwoo to inspect. If he were anyone else other than Soonyoung’s boyfriend, Wonwoo would appreciate that courtesy. But then Joshua  _ was  _ Soonyoung's boyfriend, so Wonwoo hissed and scratched Joshua's outstretched hand, before fleeing like a coward to hide under Soonyoung's bed.

"Bad Wonwoo!" Soonyoung shrieks as Joshua hastily retracts his hand to check for open wounds. "I'm really sorry - he usually doesn't act like this."

"It's okay." Joshua answered, his voice soft and gentle. Wonwoo still manages to hear him loud and clear even a room away, thanks to his heightened hearing. "I guess he doesn't like strangers." 

"He was fine with Jihoon though," Soonyoung says. Wonwoo can imagine the slight pout on his face. "Let me help you clean up. Wonwoo doesn't know how to wipe his paws after using the litter box." Joshua laughs, and Wonwoo hears their footsteps fade into the kitchen and the sound of running water. He could just imagine the scene, Soonyoung tenderly cradling Joshua's injured hand and holding it under running water, all while Joshua shoots him besotted looks until Soonyoung turns around, notices Joshua looking at him and Soonyoung would blush shyly and they would start making out in the kitchen with the kitchen sink still running, and eventually the place would flood and Wonwoo would drown because he's stuck as a cat and cats can't fucking swim. He shuffles into Soonyoung's opened cupboard and squeezes himself in the tiny available space, before realising that one of his claws got stuck in Soonyoung's sweatshirt and he can't turn around without getting trapped in fabric. He flops on Soonyoung's clothes, despondent, and yowls.

"Wonwoo what's wrong? Are you stuck somewhere again?" Soonyoung asks as he hurries to his room. Wonwoo continues to yowl. The cupboard is full of Soonyoung's clothes and it smells like Soonyoung and it's too much, Wonwoo wanted to be a cat to make anything easier for himself, but he's just realising that nothing really changes - he's still trapped, unable, unwilling, to move on from Soonyoung's existence. His happiness is still hinged on Soonyoung's efforts, and he still wants to cuddle with him at night and occasionally see him naked while showering.

Meanwhile Soonyoung has moved on, most likely written him off for good, with new friends from his dance classes and even a new lover from America. Who would definitely love to see him naked too. And they might even cuddle - right in front of him! And they would go out and eat together, watch movies together, take showers together -

"There you are, you silly cat," Soonyoung appears and there is light again, Wonwoo can breathe easier as he slowly detangles the mass of fabric around Wonwoo, gently pulling him away from his sweater, which is now riddled with cat hair. Wonwoo clings harder than usual to Soonyoung's T-shirt, leaving tiny holes in the fabric, but Soonyoung doesn't seem to mind. He continues to cradle Wonwoo in his arms even as Wonwoo presses his wet nose against Soonyoung's neck, breathing him in. He always feels safer in Soonyoung's arms, and that hasn't changed. It's alright, Wonwoo thinks to himself, resignation slowly encasing his heart.

At least he still has this. For what it’s worth. He presses closer to Soonyoung's neck, making Soonyoung giggle. The vibrations soothe Wonwoo and he relaxes his grip on Soonyoung's shirt. Soonyoung scratches the back of his neck.

Maybe Wonwoo should start letting go. Clinging never did him any good. 

-

Joshua starts coming over more often, and Wonwoo doesn't bother with biting or scratching him anymore. He instead watches Joshua the same way a chaebol mom watches the poor unsuspecting girlfriend of her precious only son, all haughty judgement and cold arrogance, which only begins to thaw when Joshua starts bringing over quality canned beef for Wonwoo.

"You're eating well," Soonyoung says, jealous, over his instant ramen. "Do you realise that this one meal of yours cost 6500 won?"

Wonwoo simply stares at Soonyoung while licking his paws. If he's getting his heart broken, he might as well get good food out of it. And there could be worse people - as far as boyfriends go, Joshua was almost too good for Soonyoung. If he wasn't so biased, he might even say that Joshua was the best choice Soonyoung made for all his crushes, Wonwoo included.

After all, Joshua doesn't seem to be an emotionally constipated mess of a human being that hurt Soonyoung so badly that Soonyoung never mentions him, even to himself in passing. He is also human, and apparently has deep enough pockets to fund Soonyoung's idol obsession and feed Wonwoo quality cat food. Soonyoung could do a lot worse. Wonwoo remembers how Soonyoung had jokingly mentioned that he'd always wanted to marry rich, so Wonwoo had better study hard so that he could land a high-paying job to support them both - well, Wonwoo is gone now from his life, so Joshua will do. Joshua has to do.

-

"Why do you name him Wonwoo?" Joshua asks on one of the weekends where he comes over for lunch. Wonwoo tenses; the relaxation he got from their petting completely gone. Come to think of it, he'd never understood what made Soonyoung name him his actual name instead of something inane like Cookie or Potato or even Taemin.

Soonyoung stills, before laughing awkwardly. "It's a long story," Soonyoung says. "I named him after one of my oldest friends."

"Really?" Joshua asks, interested. "I haven't met him yet - is he overseas?"

"No." Soonyoung says. "I don't know where he is."  _ I don't care,  _ Wonwoo hears. 

“So he’s missing?” Joshua asks. “That’s terrible!” 

“No.” Soonyoung quietly replies. “He’s just not my friend anymore.” 

“Oh.” The apartment is silent. Wonwoo is afraid to move; this is the first time he has heard Soonyoung talk about him to anyone. “Sorry to ask then, if it brings up bad memories.” Joshua says. 

“It’s alright.” Soonyoung replies with a laugh that’s so obviously faked it grates on Wonwoo’s ears, causing him to raise his haunches and hiss. “I’ve got this Wonwoo and he’s way better than the human one. Aren’t you the best cat ever?” Soonyoung asks, voice syrupy sweet, waving his fingers in Wonwoo’s face. Wonwoo doesn’t feel well anymore; and just like how he deals with anything difficult regarding Soonyoung, he runs away to hide under the comforting darkness of Soonyoung’s cupboard. He doesn’t want to hear anymore proof that he hurt Soonyoung enough that he was forced to move on, and yet Soonyoung still named him after himself, because - because? Wonwoo doesn’t know, and part of him is still afraid of the answer. 

Eventually Joshua leaves, because no matter how much they liked each other their relationship has never reached the stage where Joshua stayed the night. Which was great - Wonwoo doesn’t think he could have handled waking up to see Soonyoung and Joshua curled together on the same bed, the same way he and Soonyoung once did. Soonyoung comes over to pull him out of the tangled mess of clothes like before, while Wonwoo squirms and tries to escape his hold. 

“Shhhh… Wonwoo-yah, don’t scratch me,” Soonyoung says as he holds Wonwoo close. “You’re a good cat right?” He scratches the back of his neck, and Wonwoo feels himself relax and purr. “Ah, you’re so much easier to handle than your namesake.” 

Wonwoo sulks; it’s one thing to know that it’s true, it’s another to hear Soonyoung say it. 

“Not that your namesake was totally terrible,” Soonyoung continues as he puts Wonwoo back on the floor. “He was cute too. Sometimes.” 

Wonwoo meows, the masochist in him wants to know more about how Soonyoung viewed him. Soonyoung doesn’t seem to hear him though, trapped in his own thoughts. 

“That stupid Wonwoo… I bet he’s living well now…” Soonyoung mutters as he puts his clothes back into the cupboard. “He didn’t even show up for our class reunion...and he still hasn’t returned my 4000 won lunch money!” Wonwoo watches impassively from his seat on the bed. 

Soonyoung starts to vent. “Can you believe he used to say that I should audition for Hamtaro live action because my cheeks were so chubby? Fuck him! Not everyone can look like a model like him! Stupid handsome face...and he kept on poking my cheeks! I developed pimples because that idiot didn’t wash his hands before touching my face. And he didn’t even get  _ one  _ pimple!” 

Wonwoo remembers that all too well. In his defense, Soonyoung had very pinchable cheeks, and Hamtaro was a delight to many. It was meant as a compliment. Wonwoo didn’t say Soonyoung was like Ebichu, which on hindsight, he should have. Ebichu was also very cute, and had the bonus of being actually perverted just like Soonyoung.    
  
Oblivious to Wonwoo’s thought process, Soonyoung continues to rant.    
  
“Worse thing was how all the girls just surrounded him because he was handsome and smart - oh Wonwoo,  _ can you help me with my homework _ ? Can you explain this to me? Can you help me get this book - no he can’t, because he spent all his time with me and ignored everyone else.” 

Well, no one knew him as well as Soonyoung did. Why would he bother with anyone else? Even though it had been fun to see Soonyoung scowl in jealousy as he eyed Wonwoo’s numerous admirers. He had nothing to worry about though - Wonwoo never spared any one of them a second glance, his eyes trained on Soonyoung. 

“He kept saying that I was  _ high-maintenance _ just because I spent my savings on fanmeetings - how was it even his business? Not like he’s going to marry me in future - he shouldn’t be commenting on my spending!” Even if Wonwoo had a human mouth that could speak human words, he would have kept silent. Soonyoung had no idea about the sweet delusional dreams he had of Soonyoung being married to him and waking him up with morning sex every morning, and Wonwoo wanted to keep it that way. 

“I wish he was here though. Even if he was a piece of shit at times.” Soonyoung says. To Wonwoo’s horror, his voice sounds… teary? Soonyoung wipes at his eyes. “I want that moron here just so I can kick him in the balls.” Wonwoo winces and gingerly approaches Soonyoung, trying to apologize by rubbing his body against his calves. “No, not you Wonwoo, I would not kick you in the balls. Wait - do you even have balls?” Soonyoung picks him up and stares at his groin; Wonwoo looks away, embarrassed. 

“Oh - you do!” Soonyoung exclaims. “Then I better bring you to the vet soon.” To his horror, Soonyoung puts him down and makes the hand sign for scissors. “Wouldn’t want you to father more kittens. I can’t afford to feed more of you.” 

Wonwoo turns tail and flees. 

\- 

He never had a real deadline to end his curse, but now, the very real threat to his manhood has got him panicking for solutions, the same way Soonyoung used to panic during last-minute exam cramming. He attempted to type on Soonyoung’s keyboard to escape possible castration, only for Soonyoung to laugh and shoo him off the laptop. He tried giving Soonyoung kisses in a bid to break his curse, only for Soonyoung to coo about how W _ onwoo was becoming more affectionate lately, isn’t it great?  _

It would be great, if Wonwoo could break his curse or dump this shitty curse on someone else, the same way Junhui did to him. Come to think of it, he should have just hung around park benches until some poor soul stumbled upon him and used him as an emotional support cat before claiming payment. Instead, he went back to Soonyoung ( _ of course you did _ , a voice in his head whispers,  _ since when did you not think about going back to him _ ) and now he’s no closer to breaking his curse than he was months ago. 

He spends days refusing to clean his groin area whenever Soonyoung was in the room, in case Soonyoung takes one look and remembers that Wonwoo needs a certain irreversible procedure. but Soonyoung seems to forget his promise to get Wonwoo neutered at the nearest opportunity. From what Wonwoo gathered, Soonyoung’s studio may be cutting down on manpower, causing Soonyoung to be desperate enough to be overworked in a bid to stay employed. Wonwoo barely spends any quality time with Soonyoung because Soonyoung always comes back in an exhausted haze, and he has to frequently meow to remind Soonyoung to refill his food and water bowls, as well as to clean his litter box before he leaves for work. 

Sometimes Soonyoung doesn’t have the time to do it, so Joshua comes over and looks after him instead. He makes sure that Wonwoo gets fresh food and water, gets his claws trimmed and coat brushed, along with a pristine litter box. Wonwoo finds himself looking forward to Joshua’s visits - it’s hard to hate the person that’s making the effort to look after you when you’re not even his responsibility.

“How is Soonyoung recently?” Joshua asks as he dangles a toy bird in front of Wonwoo. Wonwoo gives it a few half-hearted swipes so that Joshua doesn’t feel that he wasted his time and money on him. “He doesn’t seem to be well.” Wonwoo meows morosely in reply. Soonyoung is steadily becoming an exhausted husk of a man, and no amount of cuddling with Wonwoo could restore his energy. It gives Wonwoo heartache to see the Soonyoung he’s in love with lose more of his baby fat and grow more haggard with each passing day. 

“Yeah, I know you love him too.” Joshua scratches the back of Wonwoo’s neck sheepishly. “That’s why you have to look after him when I’m gone okay?” 

Wonwoo turns to Joshua, disbelieving. Was Joshua dying?

“No I’m not dying.” Joshua sighs. “I have to move back to the US soon.” 

Wonwoo meows in horror. This would be a huge blow for Soonyoung. To his surprise, he also felt upset at the news that Joshua would be leaving, along with a tinge of anger. How dare he leave Soonyoung behind. If he wasn’t going to stay, he shouldn’t have entered Soonyoung’s life in the first place.

“You’ll look after him for me right?” Joshua asks as he tries to pet Wonwoo. Wonwoo turns his nose up at Joshua, but Joshua merely coos, unoffended. “Of course you will. You love him more than I do.” 

_ So what? _ Wonwoo thinks, bitter with longing.  _ He loves you more than he loves me.  _

-

Wonwoo doesn’t have to wait long for the news to reach Soonyoung. He knows when Joshua breaks the news, from the downtrodden way Soonyoung walks into the house, eyes red and swollen with unshed tears. Wonwoo immediately goes up to him and purrs, making sure to look absolutely adorable and pettable so that Soonyoung will hopefully focus on him and not on Joshua’s news.

It doesn’t work, as Soonyoung takes one look at Wonwoo and bursts into ugly tears, sinking to his knees. Wonwoo panics and meows more frantically, jumping into Soonyoung’s arms, trying to reach Soonyoung’s face to wipe his tears, before realising he had no hands and touching Soonyoung’s face with paws would cause pimples to form. He licks Soonyoung’s tears away, but they never seem to stop falling, and Wonwoo feels helplessness encase his heart in a vice grip. Soonyoung wraps his arms around Wonwoo, tight enough to be uncomfortable, but Wonwoo bears it no mind. Soonyoung is more important. Wonwoo murmurs comforting things under his breath, in his cat form it just makes him sound like he’s trying to sneeze. But it makes Soonyoung laugh shakily, and in that moment, that’s enough.

Soonyoung takes a while to pull himself together, and Wonwoo continues to press himself closely to Soonyoung, uncaring of the wetness in his fur. 

“Wonwoo you’re going to be sad, now that Joshua isn’t coming here. No more quality cat food” Soonyoung says through his blocked nose, voice hoarse from crying. Wonwoo meows sympathetically. Whatever ill feelings he has about Joshua leaving stem more from him breaking Soonyoung’s heart and less from not getting to eat beef. He’ll manage somehow. He’s not sure Soonyoung can. 

“Come to think of it we should switch places.” Wonwoo feels a cold chill down his spine as he hears the faint echoes of the words he uttered more than a year ago. There is wind rushing through his ears, swirling like a tempest as the air seems to crackle around him, alive.  _ Magic,  _ Wonwoo dimly thinks,  _ the curse is breaking.  _

Soonyoung continues blithely to himself,“it would be great to live a life as a - “ Wonwoo suddenly knows there’s no time to waste, he leaps up shrieking and shoves his paw into Soonyoung’s mouth. Soonyoung chokes at the feeling of cat paw in his mouth. There was absolutely no way he was letting Soonyoung complete his sentence, even if Wonwoo had to be doomed to stay a cat forever. 

“What the hell Wonwoo?” Soonyoung retches and spits out stray cat hairs. It makes it look like Soonyoung’s the one coughing out hair balls instead. Soonyoung will never know how close he came to signing his life away and Wonwoo would love it if he stayed that way. “Why do you do that for?” 

_ For love _ , Wonwoo thinks despairingly.  _ Because you deserve to live a life full of love, even if it’s not with me.  _

There is wind rushing through his ears again, but instead of the tempest like before, Wonwoo feels a certain sense of serenity, like he’s enveloped in a cool breeze smelling of newly washed fluffy blankets. There is energy coursing through his veins, and suddenly it feels like he can stand on his own two feet, so he does.

Soonyoung bursts into hysterical screaming, a finger pointing at Wonwoo as he fell to the floor. Wonwoo shakes his head and looks at his perfectly human hands, marvelling at the way each finger could move individually from the other. 

“Hi Soonyoung,” he croaks out, voice husky from disuse. He waves a hand. “Long time no see.”

“You’re naked!” Soonyoung screams, and then continues shrieking incoherently. 

“Oh right.” Wonwoo notes absentmindedly. It was the same case with Jun. “Do you have some clothes I can wear? Or a towel? It’s getting cold.” 

“No shit it’s cold! You’re naked!” Soonyoung exclaims, eyes travelling down Wonwoo’s bare chest all the way to his cock before hastily looking away. “I’m going to get you some clothes.” He then stumbles to his bedroom, and Wonwoo can hear him cursing as he stubbed his toe on the bed frame. He follows closely behind, the same way he used to do as a cat. His feet make more noise now, so Soonyoung can hear him as he approaches. He throws a T-shirt and a pair of boxers at Wonwoo while still staring disbelieving at his face. 

He’s still staring when Wonwoo walks out of the bathroom in Soonyoung’s old clothes. There is a flush heating his cheeks as he stares at Wonwoo, but Wonwoo doesn’t notice, too delighted with having his human body back while cursing his now poor eyesight. 

“Explain everything to me! Did you do something to my fucking cat?”

“I am your fucking cat.” Wonwoo replies drily. “You named the cat after me.” 

Soonyoung splutters. “That doesn’t explain anything!”

“I got cursed after we argued.” Wonwoo says, “I’ve been stuck as a cat for a long time.” 

“Wait so all this time - you saw me naked?” Soonyoung screeched. 

“That’s what you’re focused on?” Wonwoo asks, nonplussed. “I was technically naked in front of you the whole time!” 

“But but that’s different! You had hair! Fur!” Soonyoung splutters. “This is the worst.” 

“I can go then. It’s fine, thanks for the clothes.” Wonwoo says softly, sincere. He knows now, that he loves Soonyoung enough to let go. And this time, he can even leave on his own two feet. 

“No. Stay.” Soonyoung interrupts before Wonwoo can say anything more. “You’re not leaving me again, you stupid cat man. You’ll probably end up a pigeon and get knocked down by a passing car.”

“Why would I be knocked down by a car?” Wonwoo asks, amused. “I would be able to fly.”

“You’ll be too full of shit to fly,” Soonyoung says. “Now explain everything before I bring you to the vet and castrate you anyway.” 

So Wonwoo does. He mentions how he wished he was a cat and ended up as one living in Soonyoung’s house. He skips over the parts where he sees Soonyoung at his worst and most vulnerable (god knows he wouldn’t want anyone watching him in that situation) and focuses more on lighthearted facts - the taste of kitten kibble, the joy of stepping on keyboards, and how knocking things onto the floor gave him a perverse sense of satisfaction ( _ yeah that sounds like you, asshole,  _ Soonyoung grumbles, but he can’t hide the faint smile on his face). 

“So how did you turn back?” Soonyoung asks, curious. 

Wonwoo flushes, but there’s no way to escape, now with Soonyoung’s eyes staring straight at him without any anger or disgust, only a mixture of exasperated fondness and curiosity, the same way he used to stare at Wonwoo as a cat whenever Wonwoo did something vaguely entertaining. 

Maybe Soonyoung will continue to love him anyway, even if Wonwoo is a human who can’t see without his glasses and knocks over things by accident. 

He takes a deep breath and answers. 

-

Epilogue.

“Here, look at this!” Soonyoung wiggles a toy mouse in front of Wonwoo, like he expects Wonwoo to bat at it and chase it all over the pet store. Wonwoo pushes up his glasses with his free hand and merely rolls his eyes. 

“I’m not a cat anymore, you do realise that right?” He checks the number of cat food cans in the basket - yes, it is enough to feed Lulu for a month, assuming Lulu is satisfied with two cans of food a day. 

“Who said this was for you? This is for Lulu. But you ought to review these toys - how did this toy mouse make you feel? Is it worth 25 000 won? Will Lulu like this?”

“I liked everything as long as it was from you.” Wonwoo says nonchalantly as he looks for cat treats. He did recall loving the salmon flavoured ones mixed with blueberry.

“Idiot!” Soonyoung’s face is red as he elbows Wonwoo, nearly causing him to drop the basket. Wonwoo turns to glare at him but his glare melts away like the spring snow when he spots the flush on Soonyoung’s cheeks. “You can’t just say stuff like that like it’s nothing!” 

“Why not?” Wonwoo asks. “No one gets embarrassed about eating rice or needing the loo because it’s a part of life. Me liking you is also a part of that. It’s not hard.” 

No, loving Soonyoung, in the grand scheme of things, has never been that hard at all. 

END

**Author's Note:**

> Leave a comment or kudos if liked! 
> 
> Notes:   
> All cat behaviours are modelled after my own cat.   
> Scene not included: ksy asking jww if getting together with him meant he was now a furry


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